Shipwreck survivor: "The others are at the bottom of the sea"

Record ID: 1435657

  • Title: Shipwreck survivor: "The others are at the bottom of the sea"
  • Date: 8th October 2019
  • Summary: LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) COFFINS AT LAMPEDUSA PORT LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (OCTOBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNNAMED SURVIVOR, FROM CAMEROON, OF SHIPWRECK, SAYING: "We called and we were told to wait 10 minutes. Ten minutes later they arrived to rescue us. It is thanks to them that we survived otherwise we would have all drowned." LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) COFFINS IN TRUCK AS TRUCK BACKS AWAY FROM PORT LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (OCTOBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNNAMED SURVIVOR, FROM CAMEROON, OF SHIPWRECK SAYING: "I don't know the exact number (of migrants who were on the boat), we were about 60 on the boat, when the rescue (team) arrived they threw a rope to us and this is how it happened, the boat capsized and brought everyone to the bottom of the sea." LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) TRUCK CARRYING COFFINS MOVING OUT OF PORT LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (OCTOBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNNAMED SURVIVOR, FROM CAMEROON, OF SHIPWRECK SAYING: "Among the survivors there are only three boys and the others are at the bottom of the sea. I find it hard to talk, I feel like I'm suffocating and I do not have the strength to explain things better. There were two new-born and two minors who fell into the sea and who did not survive. Many women died, many women died. We are 12 survivors."
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 13:09
  • Keywords: shipwreck Italy Malta European Union Mediterranean Open Arms rescue vessels Italian coastguard migrants
  • Location: LAMPEDUSA, ITALY / AT SEA
  • City: LAMPEDUSA, ITALY / AT SEA
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B08MD6V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: An emotional survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa was almost lost for words on Tuesday (October 8) as he recalled the traumatic experience of being on a crowded migrant boat as it capsized in bad weather.
    As search operations continued a day after Italian coastguards recovered the bodies of 13 women, the Cameroonian survivor described the moment that the boat, which was carrying more than 50 people, capsized.
    "When the rescue (team) arrived they threw a rope to us and this is how it happened, the boat capsized and brought everyone to the bottom of the sea", the survivor said.
    The coastguard said 13 men and nine women survived the sinking of the boat. Many of the migrants are still not accounted for, including a number of children.
    The survivor said two newborns and two young children fell into the sea and did not survive.
    "I find it hard to talk, I feel like I'm suffocating and I do not have the strength to explain things better," he said, speaking to media through a fence at a nearby refugee centre.
    "Many women died, many women died. We are twelve survivors", he added.
    Coffins were lined up on the quay of the small port of Lampedusa as a coastguard ship entered harbour on Monday (October 7), bringing the bodies to shore.
    An Italian official said most of the passengers came from Tunisia or sub-Saharan Africa. None of them had life jackets.
    The boat appeared to have started its voyage in Libya and stopped in neighbouring Tunisia, he added, before heading north towards Lampedusa, an Italian island which sits below Sicily and is a magnet for migrants seeking a new life in Europe.
    Italy has introduced tough laws over the past year to dissuade charity rescue ships from operating in the Mediterranean in an effort to cut back on the number of possible asylum-seekers reaching the country.
    In a separate incident, more than 40 migrants were brought to Valletta on Tuesday after they were rescued by the Spanish charity ship Open Arms in seas north of Libya.
    EU states have been at loggerheads over how to handle refugees and migrants reaching its shores since a 2015 spike in Mediterranean arrivals of people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
    (Production: Vladimiro Pantaleone, Cristiano Corvino, Oriana Boselli)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register